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06/04/05
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Dear Frankie (2005)
81
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:31
Fresh:25
Rotten:6
Average Rating:6.8/10
Consensus: Dear Frankie is a small, good-hearted film with fine performances.
Theatrical Release:Mar 4, 2005 Limited
Box Office: $1,317,790
Synopsis: DEAR FRANKIE is a heartwarming and often humorous tale of nine year-old Frankie and his mom, Lizzie, who have been on the move ever since he can remember. To protect her son from the truth, Lizzie... [More]
Starring: Emily Mortimer, Gerard Butler, Sharon Small, Jack McElhone
Director: Shona Aeurbach
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Reviews for Dear Frankie
Top CriticThe pain that's evoked in this small, warm film -- the deep and unspoken yearning of child -- is as universal as it is heartbreaking.
04/15/05
Top CriticThe film works as a highlight tape for the cast and will satisfy any desire you have to be driven to the brink of tears.
04/14/05
Top CriticThere is no unnecessary dialogue, and Auerbach encourages us to listen closely and to study the situation. We are required to learn truths slowly, at the same pace as the characters.
03/25/05
Top CriticGives us a spoonful of medicine to make the sugar go down. Depending on your tolerance, it just may go down a treat.
03/25/05
Top CriticA little movie, and that shouldn't be taken as a pejorative. It can be sweet without being sickening, as heart-rending as McElhone's soulful gaze.
03/25/05
Top CriticDirector Auerbach and her able cast dial down the volume on the performances.
03/25/05
Top CriticIn the insightful hands of first-time filmmaker Shona Auerbach and veteran actors who play their roles with intelligence, the movie deftly ducks the schmaltz.
03/24/05
Top CriticA soft-hearted but soberly made little movie that gives sentimentality a good name.
03/17/05
Top CriticI'm pleased to report that, within this overly familiar trope, there's plenty of room for small surprises, not the least of which are delightful, understated performances all around.
03/11/05
Top CriticThe sort of movie that deserves every heart it wins, and it will win many.
03/11/05
Top CriticFor all its sentimental superficiality, Dear Frankie is emotionally affecting.
03/11/05
Top CriticThis sounds, I know, like the plot of a melodramatic tearjerker, but the filmmakers work close to the bone, finding emotional truth in hard, lonely lives.
03/11/05
Top CriticThis wee Scottish drama takes a mawkish premise and, by playing its cards close to the vest, imbues it with quiet, careworn dignity.
03/11/05
Top CriticAn endearing, occasionally sentimental story told with depth and substance.
03/10/05
Top CriticOne false note from actors or director, and the movie would collapse under the weight of fulfilling too many wishes. But it stays afloat with grace and even charm.
03/10/05
Top CriticIt rings true at heart.
03/10/05
Top CriticBoth Mortimer and McElhone stitch together this carefully modulated little character piece, with McElhone shining particularly bright as Frankie.
03/10/05
Top CriticA Scottish weepie of such bathos and balderdash that it deserves a drinking game in its rotten honor: Bend an elbow every time you've underestimated how low screenwriter Andrea Gibb and director Shona Auerbach will go to wring a tear.
03/09/05
Top CriticIt’s a terrific film.
03/07/05
Top CriticLatest News for Dear Frankie
June 03, 2005:
Woody Allen Makes a "Match" With DreamWorks
Woody Allen's well-received entry into the Cannes Film Festival, "Match Point," has been snatched up by DreamWorks Pictures for a cool $4 million. Described as much... More...
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